The Swing Era: Race Becomes Leading Debate Issue

“’The white folk still cannot compare to the really good Negroes in relaxed unpretentious dance music’” (Swing Changes 60)

This quote by John Hammond illustrates the racial tension and competition that Swing brought to Jazz. Hammond was very dedicated to bringing racial equality to the US (Swing Changes 64). In the 1930’s Swing was on the rise and quickly became a nationally recognized and highly debated music form. The race problems behind Jazz were exacerbated, and thus more publicly debated about, by the nationalization of Jazz, the heightened racialized competition during the Great Depression, the politicization of Jazz and the formation of mixed-race bands. These factors interacted to bring racial issues to the forefront of public debate and the new white Jazz critic was the prime entity that facilitated the public and intellectual debate about race and Jazz.  

               Through the invention of the radio, Swing spread across the country (Gioia 127). This nationalization of Jazz interacted with market pressures of capitalism to turn the music form into a commercialized product. Musicians now had to compete nationally in order to survive and thrive. The following Great Depression exacerbated this competition, as it drove many white musicians into playing Jazz to make a living (Gioia 128, Swing Changes 64). This new competition was highly unequal along racial lines and was intensified by white social and political dominance (Stewart 2/12). Since bands now had to travel and perform around the country in order to survive and make money, differing segregation laws in diverse states made it extremely difficult for the black musicians to compete with white ones (Stewart 2/12). This intensified racial competition led to an increased visibility and debate of the underlying racial and structural inequalities.

               Furthermore, Jazz at this time was politicized especially by left leaning Marxists as a revolutionary force (Swing Changes 73). Also, the magazine “Down Beat” wrote that “’Jazz, black and white, and democracy go hand in hand’” (Swing Changes 73). Jazz was displayed as highlighting and embodying deeper political ideologies and was used by the left and by “American Dream” promoters as a way to advocate for more racial equality (Swing Changes 73). This politicization helped spur even more debate and writing about the racial issues underlying the art form. 

               At the same time Jazz experienced some of the first interracial bands and thus directly brought racial issues to the forefront and to the audience. Benny Goodman, after being urged by Hammond “to break with the segregated tradition that had governed public performances and recordings,” attempted to integrate black musicians into his band (Swing Changes 55, Stewart 2/12). He was the first Jazz musician to play in Carnegie Hall, in order to promote Jazz as a respectable art form and his band included white and black musicians (Stewart 2/12). After than other bands tried the same strategy, as blacks were considered to have the superior musical ability. This combination also highlighted racial issues and spurred discussions about them.

               These three events in the 1930s facilitated the emergence of the white Jazz critic, who had the biggest role in writing, and promoting debate, about Jazz and the racial issues behind it. John Hammond, introduced in the beginning, was the most prominent figure in critiquing Jazz, especially concerning political and racial issues. He, for example, openly criticized black musicians, such as Ellington, “for distancing himself and his music from the troubles of his people” (Swing Changes 51). Further, he was a strong advocate for racial equality and his influence in the music genre promoted increased debate and writing about racial issues in Jazz (Swing Changes 63). 

               In sum, increased visibility of Jazz through nationalization, economic competition, the politicization of Jazz and interracial bands interacted to spur increased debate about racial issues. The prime movers behind this writing and debating were white Jazz critics, like Hammond, who elevated the debate to an intellectual and public level. Thus, all these factors contributed to the “Swing Era” being the age that race issues became ever more evident and thus were more talked and written about.

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New York Jazz: Stride, The Big Band and Swing

New York constituted the most important Jazz center in the 1920s because it provided Jazz with the appropriate social, economic, and cultural factors to achieve its evolution to Swing. Swing was going to be the most important Jazz version that was widely distributed in the US after the 1920s. New York also fostered the development of an important sub category of Jazz, namely stride, which contributed to the development of Swing.

               In New York Harlem was deemed a slum, because it was harboring a majority of the city’s black community. The poor economic conditions created the so called “rent parties” (Gioia 90). Since many could not pay their rent with their normal income, they decided to invite people over and charge a fee for the parties. These parties contributed to a flourishing musical culture in Harlem and ultimately led to the development of stride, because the people enjoyed this style (Gioia 92). Furthermore, WWI resulted in a huge migration of blacks into Harlem and they brought with them the Southern traditions of the “ring-shout” and also the New Orleans and Chicago traditions of Jazz (Gioia 90). The city also provided European musical styles. Thus, rent parties, people’s taste in music, migration and cultural diversity combined to form the first major contribution of New York to Jazz, namely stride (Gioia 91). Stride was a piano Jazz style that was the most important development for Jazz in the 1920s as it paved the way for the emergence of Swing. It was played with “rhythm[…] and syncopations” and fused Jazz influences with classical piano (Gioia 92). Nobody would embody this new musical form more than James P. Johnson, whose talent was in combining the cultural influences into a product that the audiences at the rent parties were longing for (James P. Johnson 30).

               New York’s second most important contribution in the 1920s was laying the groundwork for the evolution of Swing. New York provided Swing with the adequate place of fusion of styles, cultural influences and a receptive audience (Gioia 101). No other contributed so much to the formation of the Big Band and to the development of Swing as Fletcher Henderson. He came to New York and soon lured Louis Armstrong from Chicago to New York (Henderson 109). Louis Armstrong and Don Redman then set Henderson’s band on the track to becoming a real Jazz band, but also infused into the band musical forms that would later lead to the development of Swing (Henderson 112, Gioia 103). Thus, Fletcher Henderson’s band was providing the groundwork for the move to Swing, or might have already played one of the first Swing songs with “The Stampede” (Henderson 112). Swing then went on to become the most commercialized and popular Jazz in the decades ahead and thus Fletcher Henderson embodies the most important Jazz musician in New York.

Additionally, Henderson “helped define the emerging Jazz big band sound in the 1920s” which would be New York’s third important contribution to the evolution of Jazz (Gioia 101). The social and economic pressures in New York forced musicians “to embrace the big band idiom” and thus laid the groundwork for the evolution of Jazz and Swing (Gioia 100). Furthermore, the social dancing norms were changing in favor of Big Bands which shows the influence the audience had in the evolution of Jazz (Gioia 101).

Finally, New York provided the competitive and commercial climate that would help musicians survive the Great Depression and rise up again in the new age of the radio. Swing, pioneered by Henderson and influenced by Stride, was the crucial catapult that some musicians, like Duke Ellington, used to thrive in the post-recording era (Gioia 126). The inclusion of Jazz on Broadway also marked a significant commercializing effect of New York on Jazz.

               In sum, New York helped create Stride, the Big Band, and Swing. Only in New York did the economic, social and cultural factors guide the artists to pioneer these great advances in Jazz. This also highlights that New York was more important than Chicago in the 1920s, as Chicago did not produce any distinct advanced styles of Jazz. Chicago was more important for providing a “sanctuary” for Jazz musicians. 

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